So, in order to explain how Nerthus began, I probably need to go back a little further. I have been involved with dark music for a very long time. I have been deeply fascinated by dark music since the late 1980s and early 1990s. More generally, I have always been drawn to art that exists on the margins and ventures close to certain abysses.
Because of that, some friends and I began organising our own events in the 1990s, particularly from the mid-1990s onwards, and even more so during the 2000s. I also worked as a DJ at these events, and through them I repeatedly came into contact with people who were making music themselves.
By the end of the 1990s, this gradually developed into a more concrete desire to create music of my own, particularly in the field of dark ambient. At the time, artists such as Lustmord had a particularly strong impact on me, and vidnaObmana was also a major influence, for example. But it is difficult to narrow it down to just a few names. Of course, bands and projects from the Nordic scene, Cold Meat Industry and everything surrounding it, also had a major influence on me.
So I bought some equipment at the time—a synthesizer, a sampler and an effects unit—and began making dark ambient music myself. This was essentially the point at which Nerthus began to take shape.
At the time, I was close friends with Andreas from Forseti, a remarkable Thuringian neofolk project. Sadly, he later suffered a serious health crisis. Through him, I got to know Oli from Sonne Hagal, and that connection eventually led to my first release: a split LP with Sonne Hagal. It was released by Stephan Pockrandt’s label Eis & Licht. We also knew Stefan at the time, partly through the series of events we were organising.
My connection with the excellent German label Art Konkret came about somewhat differently. Someone from another label told me that Art Konkret was looking for new artists at the time, so I got in touch with them, and that is how the release eventually came together.
The next album came about through Carsten Stiller and Mirko Hentrich of the Audiophob label, both of whom I had originally met through our activities at the time.
From that point on, things became a little quieter on the music side, as I began focusing more strongly on photography again—a hobby that has been with me since I was fourteen, originally introduced to me by my grandfather. I still work entirely in the traditional analogue way: shooting on film, developing it myself, working in the darkroom and making photographic prints.
For a long time, I have also been interested in historical and alternative photographic processes such as cyanotypes, Van Dyke brown prints, oil prints and lith printing in particular.
For me, the musical and the visual have always gone hand in hand. That is why I described it on my Bandcamp page as “visual and auditory dark ambient.”
From around 2018 onwards, I became more musically active again. This was partly connected to the fact that I had begun building a small modular system.
Some time later, I met Raffaele Pezzella from Eighth Tower Records. He is a wonderful person who does truly excellent work, and I am very happy to have my music released by his label.
I have also worked with a really great small Greek underground label, E.C.T. Records. They released a split recording with Praying for Oblivion, as well as a standalone Nerthus CD, Sudor Anglicus.
I hope that was not too detailed.
2.You have released a good amount of material over the years, how would you describe your musical progress with the current releases?
Musically, my methods and equipment have certainly evolved, but thematically I am not sure there has been any fundamental change. I am not even sure whether there has been any real development in the sense that I am interested in different themes today than I was back then. It has always been a broad spectrum, ranging from dark, sinister and occult subjects, through bleak periods of human history and things that affected me in my personal surroundings, to purely technical ideas inspired by the way the individual pieces were actually created. So it has always tended to meander back and forth between these different areas.
3.On your 2025 album you also covered the antisoviet technological espionage network during the Cold War, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this historical event?
I am not exactly the youngest anymore, and I am, so to speak, a child of the Cold War. The confrontation between the two blocs during that period had a profound influence on me. As a child, I was genuinely afraid of some of the scenarios that were repeatedly presented in the media.
This is why I became interested, on the one hand, in East German intelligence and communications systems, including the East German numbers station known as Gong, and, on the other, in the Western surveillance network ECHELON. Moreover, the interception and monitoring of information seems more pervasive today than ever before. Hence the slightly tongue-in-cheek title, “Love Letters via Echelon“.
4.What are some of the other song themes you have covered with previous releases?
Other themes I have explored include—almost inevitably, one might say—H. P. Lovecraft. Of course, I am far from alone in that. I believe that at least half of all dark ambient artists have a fondness for Lovecraft.
Quite often, however, I do not begin with one particular theme that I want to explore. Instead, I am inspired by images—by photographs I have taken. This can, of course, mean that the place where those photographs were taken also influences my choice of subject.
Sometimes, however, it is simply technical aspects that inspire me—for example, the particular device I used or the approach that played a defining role in the creation of a piece.
Apart from that, I draw inspiration from things that have affected or impressed me in some way throughout my life. I live in Thuringia, Germany, a region with a very eventful history and a beautiful landscape. There are also places in the region, some of them close to where I grew up, that have left a lasting impression on me—among them the Jonastal and the Buchenwald concentration camp on the Ettersberg near Weimar.
5.I know that the projects name comes from Norse Mythology, how would you describe your interest in this topic?
The name Nerthus first caught my eye in a book about the Germanic peoples that quoted Tacitus, who mentioned a goddess named Nerthus, most closely identified with Mother Earth—Terra Mater. I have to admit that what appealed to me most was simply the sound of the name, although I was naturally also interested in the subject matter in general at the time.
Back then, I had a strong interest in Norse mythology, which has since given way to a much broader interest in religions both past and present, as well as in quasi-religious and occult movements.
6.With this project you record most of the music by yourself, do you prefer to work solo?
Yes, I make my music entirely by myself. I enjoy being alone and prefer working on things on my own. I find it very difficult to compromise when it comes to my artistic work, if one can put it that way.
Even the collaborations I have been involved in usually work in such a way that I receive the other person’s material, or send them my own, and then ultimately work on it alone here in my studio. So yes, I definitely prefer working by myself.
7.You have released a great amount of material over the years, do you spend most of time writing and creating music?
Oh, I wish I had more time to devote to my hobbies, namely music and photography. But like most people, I have to work, and I also have two children who naturally—and quite rightly—require a good deal of my time.
So I do not actually have that much time to spend making music. Mentally, however, I am often working on it, which means that when I get home, I can usually put ideas into practice relatively quickly because they are already more or less fully formed in my head. That may explain how I manage to maintain a relatively steady output despite having limited time.
But some things really do take a little more time, though. For example, I had wanted to release something on tape for a very long time, which I finally did with the Jonastal release. It was a small edition: I duplicated all the tapes myself and also created the cover artwork. Duplicating the tapes actually took quite a lot of time, since it all had to be done in real time. By the way, there are still tapes left, in case anyone is interested. ;)
8.Have you done any live shows with this project or open to the idea?
So far, I have only played one live show, as the opening act for vidnaObmana at the Parkhöhle in Weimar. It was a concert that we organised ourselves at the time, which naturally gave me the opportunity to perform as the support act.
That concert was extremely important to me and left a lasting impression for two reasons. Firstly, I had already been a great admirer of vidnaObmana for a very long time. His music made a lasting impression on me and had a significant influence on my own work. Secondly, the Parkhöhle in Weimar is a very special place where concerts and other events are held only very rarely. That made the occasion even more exceptional.
Apart from that, I never really planned to perform live on a regular basis, because I feel that the entire setting has to be right. Presenting ambient or dark ambient music live is difficult, in my opinion, because relatively little happens on stage. It is therefore important that the venue and the overall atmosphere are appropriate, and that the performance is accompanied by strong visuals. This can make the whole undertaking rather elaborate.
I was also always concerned that I might not be able to realise the music live in the way I imagined it. I had no desire to rely too heavily on playback or similar methods. My own expectation would always be to create as much of the music live as possible.
By now, I have the equipment that would make this possible, but I have not pursued the idea far enough to say that a live performance is likely to happen in the near future. In any case, that concert with vidnaObmana took place a very long time ago.
9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of dark ambient and drone?
I am certainly not the best-known dark ambient project, but I would like to think that by now I have built up a relatively loyal audience. Naturally, my own Bandcamp page does not receive as much traffic as, for example, Raffaele’s Eighth Tower Records label page.
But as long as I have the feeling that people are actually listening to my music, I am content with that—although, of course, I would be very pleased if it reached a wider audience and attracted more attention.
10.Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician during the future?
I do not think that much will change in the future. Perhaps my audience will grow a little, which would certainly make me happy. Apart from that, I expect to continue making music whenever time allows, and I hope to release it either myself or through labels such as Eighth Tower Records. I would already be very satisfied with that.
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
I listen to a very wide range of music. A great deal of it is electronic, of course, but even within that field my tastes are extremely broad, ranging from industrial and post-industrial to dark ambient, experimental music, ritual and world music.
I also enjoy many other forms of electronic music, from Autechre, Boards of Canada, LFO and The Future Sound of London to techno artists such as Chris Liebing. I absolutely love drum and bass, jungle and dubstep, especially the harder varieties of those genres, as well as breakcore. I am a great admirer of Mick Harris and his various projects, for example. I think his work is outstanding.
Another genre I enjoy very much is neofolk. At the moment, I have a still relatively unknown Spanish project on almost constant rotation. The music is generally described as dark or gothic Americana, and I can wholeheartedly recommend Daemon Jennings.
I am also fond of classical and neoclassical music. Other styles that I used to listen to quite frequently, such as EBM, are things I now return to only occasionally, mostly for nostalgic reasons.
My musical tastes are genuinely very broad, though, and good pop music should not be forgotten either. I also greatly enjoy artists such as Röyksopp, Bent, Fever Ray and Bat for Lashes, among others.
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
“Final words” always makes it sound as though I ought to have something particularly profound to say. :)
Thank you for the interview. Stay healthy—and listen to a little more Nerthus.
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